Center for Ecoliteracy Sustainable Dissolvable Labels

OnFebruary 6, 2017

The Center for Ecoliteracy promotes ecological education and seeks to educate schools to teach and model sustainable practices to our children. They sought sustainable, temporary use stickers for their state wide school food program. Plan It Green Printing provided labels made from wood cellulose with a plant-starch adhesive. The labels could be refrigerated or frozen but would dissolve under a steady stream of water.

The program is a planning framework for improving school food, supporting sustainable food systems, and teaching and integrating curriculum around food issues.

By addressing school food, we affect public health, academic performance, economics, justice, national security, the environment, and community well-being.

Explore the “Levels of Authority for School Food Systems” from the Center for Ecoliteracy book Smart by Nature to understand where decisions affecting school food are made.

Download the “School Lunch Initiative Evaluation,” a study that demonstrated the effectiveness of a program combining gardening, cooking, improvements in school food, and integrating learning about food and the environment into the academic curriculum.

Submerge in water and the Ecoliteracy labels will disappear

Submerge in water and the EcoLiteracy labels will disappear

Food and Health

The school food program promotes health through menus that feature a variety of delicious, appealing, nutritious offerings.

Read about how San Diego Unified promoted its stellar healthy school meal program.

Policy

The school nutrition program is guided by a district wellness policy developed and implemented through a collaborative community process.

Download a Model Wellness Policy Guide, developed by the Center for Ecoliteracy, to help you review, revise, and update your local policy.

Teaching and Learning

Hands-on learning, the lunchroom experience, and teaching and learning in the classroom deepen students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes about food, culture, health, and the environment.

Download a discussion guide for high school to accompany the film Food, Inc.

The Dining Experience

Students feel welcomed, safe, and valued in an atmosphere that encourages social interaction and healthy eating.

Read an article, “Rethinking Lunchtime: Making Lunch an Integral Part of Education,” on the achievements realized when one elementary school switched lunch and recess.

These labels will melt away under a steady stream of water

Procurement

The school meal program obtains fresh, seasonal, sustainably grown produce and products from local and regional sources.

Read about the procurement strategy implemented in the Oakland Unified School District.

Facilities

The dining facility serves as a learning center, offers fresh food prepared onsite, and reinforces lessons learned in the classroom.

Read an interview with Steve Marshall, The Marshall Associates, Inc., on asking the right questions while designing or remodeling school food cooking facilities.

Waste Management

The school food program reduces waste and helps students understand the need to conserve natural resources.

Read an excerpt of The Worm Café about vericomposting for waste reduction and making waste management a part of the academic curriculum.

Made from wood cellulose with a plant starch adhesive

Professional Development

Nutrition services staff and teachers receive the training they need to realize the Rethinking School Lunch vision.

Read the professional development section on the Center’s Cooking with California Food in K-12Schools downloadable book to learn more about effective professional development for nutrition services staff.

Read about Scott Soiseth’s secrets to success in marketing his school lunch program in Turlock, California.

Commercial ‘Green’ Printing

Today, companies, cities and non-profits see the benefit in green printing: From meeting packaging laws on compostability and recycling, to the obvious branding opportunities. From USA Pavilion World Expo 2015 to World Centric, companies, colleges and cities buy and prefer ‘green’ when given a choice.

Today, the choices of ‘green’ stocks, methods of ‘green’ printing, ‘green’ certification bodies require an education in itself: Biopolymers, tree-free, stone, cellulose.
Now, large and small, Religious, Environmental, Animal and Scientific Groups/Organizations/Faiths are concerned and advocating for sustainability and against water pollution, plastics/degradation of plastic and it’s affect on animals and humans. Your Company's Printing is a necessity, but where is the stock printed on coming from? China, Taiwan, Canada, Indonesia or the U.S. of A? If the paper is coming from Indonesia or Canada, for instance, it's quite probably contributing to deforestation which, in turn, is contributing to the extinction of the native species, i.e., orangutan, tiger population.

Deforestation, extinction, this list goes on and on and out to an increasingly well-informed public. Clients and customers are demanding to know how the Companies products are printed and packaged. Are the inks petroleum or vegetable-based? Are your inks low V.O.C. (volatile organic compounds)? Is your paper and packaging FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), SFI (Sustainably Forestry Initiative) or BEP (Best Environmental Practices) Certified? Was it Made Carbon Neutral? Are your labels compostable?!!!

Since 2003 Plan It Green Printing has been helping companies green their print practices.